In the field of electronic commerce, it is common for online merchants to sell products within many different product-related categories. For example, Amazon.com, Inc., the assignee of the present application, sells products within the categories of books, music, video & DVD, toys & games, electronics, home improvements and auctions. The predefined categories and associated products are typically presented to users in the form of a browse tree. In addition, many merchants provide a search engine for conducting searches for products.
One problem commonly encountered by online merchants is the inability to effectively present groups of related products that span the predefined categories. Due to the large number of products and categories, and the organization of the web site, many relationships between products may be difficult for the user to ascertain. For example, suppose a user of a merchant's web site is a fan of the American humorist and author Mark Twain. The user may choose to look for books written by Mark Twain through a browse tree in the book section of an on-line commerce web site. Browsing in this manner is likely to reveal a large number of books authored by, or written about, Mark Twain. The user, however, may be unaware that the web site also sells products other than books that may be of interest to fans of Mark Twain. For example, a videos section of the same web site may contain video biographies of Mark Twain and video adaptations of many of his classic books, while a music section may include compact discs with songs inspired by his writings. Similarly, an auctions section of the same site may contain products offered for sale by third parties that may be of interest to the user, such as Mark Twain memorabilia. Although use of the web site's search engine may reveal some of these additional products, the user typically must review a long list of search results in order to identify the products or categories of interest.
Another problem in the field of on-line commerce is that of locating a web site from which a particular product can be purchased. This problem may arise, for example, when the online merchants known to the consumer do not carry the product of interest. In such a circumstance the consumer may use an Internet search engine such as ALTAVISTA or EXCITE to search for a web site that sells the product. The scope of such a general search is often large enough, however, that only a small fraction of a large number of located web sites actually offer the product for sale. For example, the search may include a relatively large number of sites that merely provide reviews, technical support, specifications, or other information about the product of interest. Thus the sites of greatest interest to the consumer are likely to be buried deep within a long list.
The present invention seeks to overcome these and other problems.